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I was not sure how long I had been locked in what looked like a cellar. There were no windows and one by one the candles had burned down to the wick. My neck felt raw and chafed from pulling on the leather collar continuously.
The cloaked man stood hovering over me. His eyes leered at me and I wondered how he could even see me, it was so dark. There were only a few candles sputtering away in a corner.
I could hardly stand on my own two feet; I was starving and thirsty. I croaked sarcastically, “If you’re going to keep me here for a year, you’re going to have to feed me.”
He asked me, “Do you know what it means to be in a clan?”
I did not care. All I wanted was something to eat.
“A clan is a group of people with a strong common interest.”
“So? Why are you telling me this?”
He continued, without paying any interest to my questions, “The word clan comes from the Gaelic word, children and is a kinship amongst groups of Scottish people. Clans give us a sense of shared identity.”
Oh. My. F... Snowball. I was not interested in a history lesson. “Just feed me,” I growled.
He rambled on, “My father’s father’s grandfather owned the land and castle upon which your clan now lives but we were all part of the same clan once. We all shared the same bond; we all had the ability to shift into animals. However, your clan decided that at the age of eighteen a decision was to be made, and then thereafter that decision had to be final. We had to either remain human or remain forever as the animal we chose. We had to determine from all the possible animals we could become, which animal we wanted to be for the rest of our natural lives. This required a lot of thought and reasoning, to decide, really decide which animal would have all the benefits to live a good life. The ability to fly quickly to and from places like an eagle, to gallop across vast areas such as a horse, to climb high places like the mountain goat or a leopard in a tree, the strength of a bear, shark, bull, the gracefulness of a butterfly, the energy of a hummingbird, the night vision of an owl.”
He held his hands together behind his back and started pacing the floor in front of me. My eyes followed him as he walked from one stone wall caked in lime, to the opposite stone wall covered in slime and moss.
He continued, “They captured a powerful witch to perform a magical spell to stop us from being able shift into any shape we desired after we came of age. However, the very essence of nature is change. Night turns into day, new moon to full moon, meadow to forest, caterpillar to butterfly. Those of us who did not want this radical change of our ancient kinship, refused fealty. We rebelled in a series of attacks and raids and demanded to be able to shift until our dying day. The fighting was very bloody on either side and my direct ancestor died in the last battle, before it was decided that due to irreconcilable differences the accord had to be severed.”
His eyes glared at me with hatred. “We were banished from our ancestral homes, because we were loyal to our heritage.” He hit his fist on his chest. It looked painful.
“Your mother...” He stopped talking as if it pained him too much to be reminded of her betrayal. “She wanted to marry that swine.”
“Hey! That’s my father you’re talking about.” Even though I did not know them, he had no right to talk about my parents in such a manner.
“She chose fealty to a clan who stole my birth right. It could not be allowed.”
“It’s over now. Done. Why do you still want to kill my mother? Besides, I have been told she’s dead,” I lied.
“Once revenge fills your soul, it has to be appeased, and I know she is still alive even if she chose to shift into her animal form and stay that way.”
Suddenly, the door on the far side of the chamber opened with a loud crash, and a ray of sunlight streamed into the darkened room.
Bradley was standing there, silhouetted against the brightness of the sun outside.
The cloaked man whipped around to face Bradley. “I knew you would come.” In a shimmer of light, his cloak fell to the ground in a puddle around his feet and he transformed into a fox.
I screamed, “Bradley! Be careful!”
The fox reared up on its hind legs, pulled back its ears and tail, and opened its mouth to expose its sharp teeth. With its paws pushed against Bradley’s chest, the fox tried to intimidate Bradley by pushing him backwards.
Bradley’s eyes narrowed and a low growl rumbled from his throat as he bared his own teeth.
The fox raked Bradley’s face with its claws and swiftly moved its head forward to sink its very sharp teeth into Bradley’s neck.
Bradley fell backwards onto his back, and then they started rolling over and over in a fierce struggle.
The fox snapped its mouth close to Bradley’s face each time it was on top of Bradley, until Bradley managed to get on top of the fox again and pull away, struggling to his feet.
Hunched over, Bradley faced the fox, his arms stretched in front of him, palms facing the fox, while every muscle in his body became taut as he waited for the fox to leap at him again.
My uncle came scurrying into the room, running along the wall, too scared to run straight across the floor from the door to me. His nose was twitching more than usual. When he reached me, he immediately started to undo the buckles on the leather collar around my neck which was fastened to the metal chain on the wall.
I did not have time to thank him as I morphed into a wolf. I snapped my jaws together with a loud clap. Crouched with my tail cocked, my lips pulled back to bare my fangs, my ears pointed forward, and my eyes wild and threatening, I leapt into the air and landed on the fox’s back.
The fox squirmed under me, but even though I was small for a wolf, I was still stronger than the fox.
With a yelp, the fox tried to squirm out from under me, but I held it down with my paw. Unfortunately, for the fox, all its squirming resulted in it turning around to face me. We were snapping at each other, trying to get somewhere to bite, when I got a gap and swiftly sunk my teeth into its neck.
The fox transformed back into his human form and the man pulled his knees closer to his chest, while gripping at his throat with both his hands in a futile attempt to keep the blood from pouring from his body.
Standing over the dead man, the stone floor drenched in his blood, was an awful sight. I felt remorse rush through me, even though I knew I had no choice. It was either him or Bradley, and I had to choose Bradley. There was no other choice.
